Michigan's UP?

[railiner]

Wait! I forgot that we Yoopers have our very own "passenger train": http://trainandboattours.com/

You don't have too far to go to experience a "real" train...

http://www.agawatrain.com

I just learned that unfortunately, it has also been reduced to just a seasonal tourist ride to the Agawa Canyon and return...no more connections to VIARail at Oba or Franz...

 

[cpotisch]

Wait! I forgot that we Yoopers have our very own "passenger train": http://trainandboattours.com/

You don't have too far to go to experience a "real" train... http://www.agawatrain.com/media/1118/agawa-canyon-brochure-2018.pdf

I just learned that unfortunately, it has also been reduced to just a seasonal tourist ride to the Agawa Canyon and return...no more connections to VIARail at Oba or Franz...

Link doesn't work.

 

[railiner]

Fixed ...http://www.agawatrain.com

 

[Don Newcomb]

Passenger rail service in UP is an interesting "pipe dream" but I'd be forced to ask, "What's in the pipe?"

 

[Burns651]

The last time passenger cars were ferried across the Straits was 8/1/1955. There was a through car from the NYC, originating in Detroit and connecting to the DSS&A's "Lake Superior Limited." The DSS&A's last passenger run from St. Ignace, by then an RDC, was on 1/12/1958. The Pennsylvania's "Northern Arrow" to Mackinaw City, by then a summer-only weekend operation, last ran in Sept. 1961. It originated in Cincinnati and right until the end carried sleepers from Chicago via Fort Wayne, and sleepers from St. Louis and Indianapolis via Richmond, IN. In Sept. 1962 the NYC discontinued the daily RDC "Northerner" (Beeliner) between Detroit and Mackinaw City. 1963 was the last year of NYC's summer-only, weekend "Timberliner" between Detroit and Mackinaw City.

 

[tim49424]

So do I (in L’Anse) — a cousin who practiced medicine there for more than 30 years. Others lived in Duluth, Marquette, Negaunee, Gwinn, and downstate. I have stood on the shore of Lake Superior near Munising in May with snow and ice still piled along the shoreline. And then the black flies and mosquitoes and night crawlers emerge ....

Oh gawd, the black flies. I went to Whitefish Point some years back and they were swarming all over, caking the grills of vehicles in the lot and chewing up skin to no end. I didn’t experience any at my late mom’s cousin’s farm in Covington (just south of L’Anse) in recent years, however. They’re just plain nasty.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Ugh, black flies! Drove us out of Labrador (yeah, WAY off topic) when I was a teenager, after one night.

I had a nice chat a few years ago with a charming elderly woman who was talking about skiing up in Wisconsin "oh, but in those days you could take a train right to the slopes from Chicago!" - never got to where she had gone, but that certainly would be nice. If the Rockford and eventual, fingers crossed, Galena (and Quad Cities) service is a success in Illinois you can bet Wisconsin isn't going to want to be left out from having state perks.

 

[DSS&A]

The Copper Country Limited was ended 50 years ago this year back on March 7th operaring between Chicago and Calumet Michigan. It was opered by the DSS&A and the Milwaukee Road. The Soo Line continued the DSS&A operation after the 1961 DSS&A-Soo-Wisconsin Central mearger.

The C&NW operated north of Green Bay on Sundays only to Menomonee, MI into 1970. The last passenger service in the UP operated as a mixed train servince into 1986.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-02-24/news/8601140463_1_soo-line-railroad-freight-train-passenger-business

 

[dogbert617]

Fixed ...http://www.agawatrain.com

Years ago I rode on the Agawa train, and that was a very cool experience! Glad I did that with my family, when we crossed over to the Ontario side of SSM. Stinks if they've reduced the number of days it runs on, vs. years ago if that's indeed what was done in the last few years. Hope it continues to run for years to come, and isn't eliminated.

As has been pointed out, the rail lines to Mackinaw City were ripped up in the late 80s early 90s. The former NYC line now ends at Gaylord and the former PRR ends in Petoskey. The rail lines that are still in place are dark territory, and lets not even bring up PTC. You might be able to develop service to Marquette and Escanaba, but first you would have to get Wisconsin to extend service to Green Bay (which never seems to be in any of Wisconsin's plans that I see).

I wish those areas of northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula could get some sort of Amtrak rail service, but I'm not holding my breath it'll happen anytime soon if ever. Sigh, I haven't seen any movement on Amtrak introducing train service from Chicago to either Dubuque, or towards the Quad Cities as was once proposed! It'd at least be nice, if at minimum Amtrak service could be restored between Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Duluth!

 

[Thirdrail7]

Im not familiar with this territory but Im struggling to figure out why this is in the Amtrak forum. What am I missing?

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Im not familiar with this territory but Im struggling to figure out why this is in the Amtrak forum. What am I missing?

Depending if this thread is interpreted as being primarily about the history of railroads in the region or a potential future Amtrak route it probably either belongs in Miscellaneous Rail Forums or the Amtrak's Future category.

 

[cpotisch]

Im not familiar with this territory but Im struggling to figure out why this is in the Amtrak forum. What am I missing?

Depending if this thread is interpreted as being primarily about the history of railroads in the region or a potential future Amtrak route it probably either belongs in Miscellaneous Rail Forums or the Amtrak's Future category.

Since Amtrak really has not been the focus so far, I think the Miscellaneous Forum is most fitting.

 

[cpotisch]

It got moved. Now in the "Freight, International, and Other Rail" subform.

 

[chakk]

Here’s a crazy idea.....terminate service on both sides of the bridge, St. Ignace and Mackinaw City and bus across the bridge.

Or walk across the bridge, as the public is permitted to do the first Monday of each September (and which I did in 1972).